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My name is Cassandra Maldonado-Ontiveros and I am an upcoming third-year undergraduate student here at the University of Colorado Boulder. As a Colorado native, I had anticipated a fairly easy transition to college in terms of environmental adaptation. However, my senior year of high school, the pandemic took away some of the most memorable months of my high school experience. In March of 2019 there was very minimal information available or known regarding COVID-19, it was then that I began to feel the sense of loss. Unknowing how my summer and upcoming freshman year would go, the one thing I was determined of was starting college in a robust manner no matter the format. After dreadful and lengthy months into my freshman year, I began to mentally decline in terms of motivation and hopes. Having been assigned in a single-room dormitory with another individual struggling with their mental health added onto the grabble. Having missed out on college orientation, welcome fests, first-year block parties, and launches, it was a saddening and maddening experience. The sense of loss during this time came in various different aspects.  

Having started last year with the slimmest hopes of returning to in-person classes, I was thrilled when it did. Though it was only a few weeks before professors commenced canceling all classes and resorting to asynchronous and online classes once again. This past semi-normal year on campus has been fairly difficult in terms of balancing mental and physical health, alongside social life and external familial and personal relationships. When family members and friends now ask how my freshman year was, I respond that my sophomore year was my first actual year. It was the first year I was able to make mistakes, evaluate, and grow in a mature and lively-realistic setting. Though some individuals deem the class of 2024 as being less academically resilient, I strongly abide by the statement that this class is the most mentally courageous and determined. 

Teenagers have the rough tendency of wanting to become independent at an early age. Making mistakes and coming-out on the other side where growth and self-maturation are gained is invaluable. There has been nothing like growing up in a setting where other minds are so alike to mine, and though we did not attain a ‘successful’ freshman year, I know we are stronger for it. The determination and motivation has been constantly questioned these past couple of years amidst the pandemic, but self-motivation has greatly indulged in the minds of the young. I strongly believe my class and I stand to be one of the greatest classes to endure and undergo a distinct type of adversity than ever before, and to do it in a modernized and tailored way to best fit our generation’s emerging conflicts.

This unfortunate experience has led me to appreciate the little things a little more. I now spend as much time as I can on campus and have stepped out of my comfort zone significantly by joining clubs such as UMAS x MECHAS and academic programs such as McNeill. I had never known the power of connections in regards to both academic and mental health. I have begun to find my sense of belonging a year after the normal trial period, but I feel stronger for it.